Union members, local leaders call on MaineHealth to help secure release of detained nurse

More than 100 nurses, union members, officials and other supporters are calling on MaineHealth to intervene after federal immigration authorities detained a nurse last week. 

Members of the Maine State Nurses Association and other supporters gathered outside Maine Medical Center Wednesday in support of Debora Kapisha, an asylum seeker who works at the Portland hospital, who was detained on July 30 while traveling through Boston’s Logan Airport, according to a statement from the union. 

The rally spotlighted the role of employers within the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, particularly in sectors such as healthcare that increasingly rely on immigrant workers. 

“Nurses like her are not easy to replace and the patients, our community, we are all feeling her loss,” said fellow nurse Abbey Nelson, who described Kapisha as kind, hardworking and compassionate. 

“Not only is it heartbreaking to see someone who has given so much to others be taken away, but it’s angering and it’s just sickening,” Nelson said.

Several speakers suggested the hospital could do more to support Kapisha, such as provide a letter of support, help put up bond money, or sponsor her green card. 

Britt Crewse, president of MaineHealth’s southern region, which includes Maine Medical Center in Portland, said in a statement Wednesday that MaineHealth is in touch with Kapisha’s attorneys and “is providing the appropriate support as they work to secure her release.” 

Janel Crowley, a NICU nurse and union steward, said the hospital — which is the largest north of Boston — has the resources to protect its workers.

“This is a hospital for crying out loud,” said Crowley. “This is a place of healing, caring, of helping vulnerable people. But at least for the moment, this hospital is turning its back on someone who very much needs our help.”

“Why not be an example to other employers in the state of Maine, showing them what it looks like to show up and stand for their workers as well?” Crowley added.

That call was echoed by Hannah Pingree, the Democratic candidate for governor, who said she met with MaineHealth leaders Wednesday morning to discuss the possible closure of the labor and delivery unit at Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta. During that meeting, Pingree said she told the administrators, “We need you to get involved and bring Debora home,” adding that she believed they were “receptive.”

“She is needed here, every day providing lifesaving services to the state of Maine,” said Pingree, who said she wants the hospital to sponsor Kapisha, who works as a medical-surgical nurse.

Crewse said immigration officials have not provided any information to MaineHealth but that the hospital reached out to Maine’s congressional delegation to see if they can find out more about Kapisha’s status.

“We take great care in making sure everyone who comes to work for us is legally authorized to do so,” he said. “Nevertheless, the enforcement surge by immigration authorities has many of our care team members on edge.”

A search on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database confirms Kapisha is in ICE custody. Though it does not say where she is currently held, it provides contact for the ICE enforcement and removal operations field office in Boston. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for information or comment on the case.

The union said Kapisha was slated to be transferred from Massachusetts to a detention facility in Louisiana, but heard that the transfer had been cancelled, which it credited to their work amplifying her case.

This is not the first Maine healthcare worker ICE agents have detained. Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old nursing student and asylum seeker, was held for six months in a detention center in Texas before she was released in May.

Since the large-scale ICE operation in January, immigration enforcement in Maine has become less visible, though continued, leaving many immigrants and people of color fearful to leave their homes. 

The fatal shooting of Biddeford resident Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by a federal agent last month has renewed calls for ICE to get out of the state.

“This Trump administration might tell us with their propaganda that they are taking criminals,” Maine Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-South Portland) told the crowd Wednesday. “But they are not … They have not taken anyone who is committing crimes, they are taking our nurses, our hardworking community members, and that should make us all angry.”